Hi, I'm a fairly experienced programmer, but I'm relatively new to electronics and a total n00b to the microprogrammer scene.
I would like to get in to programming microprogrammer chips, but have a question I haven't been able to verify from the introduction guides.
After getting your pulsating LED or whatever project you make working on your dev board, what then? Is it programmed onto the chip and can the chip be taken off the board and soldered to the various components used in the project to create a kind of standalone device without the need of the dev board again?
yes the chip contains storage space in the form of flash rom, so its like a tiny memory stick, once its programed it stays on there until you overwrite it
the Atmega 328 that is found in current arduinos has
32k of program space
2k of ram
1k of EEPROM, just in case your program needs to save a setup file or whatnot that can be changed later, as program space is read only from the program running on the chip point of view
Hi, I'm a fairly experienced programmer, but I'm relatively new to electronics and a total n00b to the microprogrammer scene.
For future reference, the processor IC that is used in the Arduino carrier board is an Atmel ATMega168/ATMega328 microcontroller, not "microprogrammer" as you are referencing it.
I am only pointing this out, because what you might find using google under the term "microprogrammer" might be vastly different from the standard term "microcontroller"...
I am only pointing this out, because what you might find using google under the term "microprogrammer" might be vastly different from the standard term "microcontroller"...
Hey thanks for pointing that out. I'm here to learn
What's all the stuff on an arduino board then, other than the chip?
Or to put it another way, if I had something working on my arduino board, do I just need to shift the ATMega or is there other stuff between it and the pins that would need replicating?
The absolute minimum you need to run an AVR chip is a 5v supply and a decoupling capacitor. That's it. Add a crystal if your application's timing is important (or if the Arduino requires it, not sure how the fuses are programmed with Arduino). If you are using analogue inputs maybe one more cap to help with noise on the AREF pin.
This will not allow you to download sketches or program the chip in any way, it will simply power up and do its thing.
Normally though you will add logic to condition any IO and maybe a connector to allow programming, however the Arduino has no IO conditioning so if it worked on the Arduino it should work on a perfboard.
